


Message in a Bottle

by harmonyfb



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 13:21:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2548982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmonyfb/pseuds/harmonyfb





	Message in a Bottle

It was just there one day, lying on the console. Grey, cylindrical, its surface a dull sheen that didn’t reflect any light at all. It was stupid to pick it up without knowing what it was, but the Doctor made it a rule to do something stupid at least once a day. You never knew when something good would come of it. Some of the greatest inventions in human history, for example, were the direct result of the boundless stupidity of the human mind.

He picked it up and sniffed it experimentally. There was the tang of ozone, and a vague buzziness that wasn’t exactly unpleasant. “So what’s this, then?”

Rose looked up from the puzzle she was fiddling with. He’d warned her not to get started on those Mazzik 3 puzzles; took him a whole year to solve one, once. She’d be working it till she was on the way to the cemetery.

“What’s what? I dunno, never seen it before. I thought you put it there.”

“Well, I didn’t. Wonder where it came from?”

Alarmed, she got up to join him. “Doctor, if you don’t recognize it, maybe you ought to put it down. There’s no telling what it could be.”

“Exactly,” he said with relish. “Get as old as me, there aren’t that many surprises left in the world. Could be some sort of projectile, I suppose, or maybe a musical instrument.”

Rose peered closely at it for a moment, and declared. “I think it’s a vibrator.”

The Doctor frowned. “I don’t think so. They generally have a shock-proof grip on the end, and I’ve never seen one that didn’t have variable controls.”

She grinned. “No, I mean a vibrator. It looks just like that silver bullet thing my mum keeps in her bedside drawer.”

“Oh. I could have gone another 900 years without hearing that, thank you.” He shook his head to clear the image. “No, I’m betting tabletop decoration.”

“Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that; I know different,” Rose sang. She picked up her puzzle and breezed out, still wearing that ridiculous grin.

The Doctor examined it a little more closely. It did look a little like…no, he was sure she was wrong. It was familiar, though, like something he’d seen a long, long time ago. On the tip, there was a little bumpy spot, not really visible until it was tilted at just the right angle. He ran his thumb over it absently.

It was a trigger.

The device opened itself with a pop that was more felt than heard, sides folding backwards like a spider’s legs to form a platform for an image.

Now, this was more like it. He waited for the hissing of the transmission to balance out. He should do stupid things more often, definitely. The sound began a few seconds before the picture resolved, just a woman’s voice, faint at first, and getting stronger. He felt the hair on his neck prickle, and he blinked away the tears that sprung unbidden to his eyes. It was just a coincidence, and it had been too, too long.

He’d just about convinced himself when the image cleared, and there she stood: _Romana._

“Is it running? Yes? Hello, Doctor!” She gave a jaunty wave, every bit the picture of the charming schoolgirl she’d been when last he’d seen her. “I know it’s been a while, but it took me forever to figure out how to bridge the dimensional gaps. It’s not like traveling down the road for tea, at least, not without a TARDIS. In any case, something has changed, and suddenly, it’s as if the spaces between are filled with jam. It’s like when you bite down too hard on a jam sandwich, and it oozes out all over your fingers. I suppose I shouldn’t complain, as that’s what’s allowing me to get this to you.

I thought you should know – though I suppose the High Council is already working on it.” She smiled. “If you find yourself on this side of the jam sandwich, come find me. I’ve done the work I can, and I’m quite ready to go.” The transmission wavered, and she began to hurry. “You can triangulate from the transmitter. I find I miss Gallifrey. And I miss you. Must go now-“

It ended with a hissing noise, angling, elongating and clicking back together until it was seamless once more.

He gazed at it with a curious mixture of hope, disbelief, and self-loathing. Romana was still alive. Out there in e-space, and she could feel the re-ordering of time, and he wasn’t alone anymore. She was out there, just as inaccessible as ever - at least, until he found a way to cross the void and bring her back.

They could be together again, just like before. He’d grown so fond and truly loved her at the last, and he thought she cared for him, in her own way. And she and Rose – well, that might be awkward, but he could always bring Ricky, and Romana would stay – until she found out what he’d done. Until she asked why he wouldn’t take her back home. Stony-faced, he slipped the device in his pocket. It would be kinder to her to leave her be; let her think the message was lost between dimensions. At least she’d have her memories, and he’d still have her affection.

When Rose found him later to ask him what it was, he cheekily replied that she was right - “Must have been dropped by the Brigadier,” he said with a wink, “and it was multi-speed, after all, care for a demo?” She made a face and dropped the subject.

When he died, it was with Romana's name unspoken, and his fingers on the last bit of home he had left.


End file.
